A. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to systems for tracking items inside a predetermined area and more particularly to an item tracking system for controlling the lending and returning of items assigned to predetermined storing locations inside a working area by the workers.
B. Description of the Related Art
In certain working places such as aeronautics workshops, it is critical to keep an extremely clean and safe environment, since any object, even small ones, can get lost and end inside an engine for example, which can be disastrous during testing or operation of the engine, destroying the engine and causing a serious problem in the aircraft during flight.
The above referred problem gets worst in a workshop where many tools and instruments are used by many people for maintenance operations and where the tools can eventually get lost and become a FOD (Foreign Object Damage).
When a tool gets lost, it is necessary to stop all the operations in the workshop until the tool is found, if it is even found, causing serious problems and delays in the workshop and serious problems to the aircraft operator which lost precious time and money, not mentioning the risk of delivering an aircraft with a potential fatal problem.
In view of the above, some fraudulent practices may arise when a tool gets lost, such as some worker stealing the tools of another worker to replace his/her lost tool and link the responsibility of the problem to another person, or even buy a replacement tool from internal fraudulent organizations or from an external provider, which involves a great risk since the lost tool may cause a fatal accident.
In order to solve this problem, there were developed methods and systems comprising the use of ID (identification) tags comprising a bar code sticker for each tool and manually tracking each tool frequently. This system requires that when a worker takes a tool from a location the tool be passed in front of a bar code reader for registering the transaction and the same operation should be done for returning the tool to the storage location which is time consuming and it may be possible that a worker forget to register the taking and/or returning operations in the system which may cause very serious control problems since it may generate a false alarm if a tool is not registered as “returned”.
Furthermore, the bar code sticker may be peeled of from the tools during use, thus turning the sticker rests in potentially dangerous FOD's.
In view of the above referred problems, applicant developed a system which makes use RFID technology for automatically monitoring the taking and returning operations of items inside a working area.
The present inventive system comprises: a plurality of electronic worker identification tags, each worker identification tag assigned to a respective worker, each worker identification tag having personalized identification information about the worker; a plurality of electronic item identification tags, each electronic item identification tag permanently integrated to a respective tool, each electronic item identification tag having information about the item and about the item's assigned storage area; a plurality of electronic worker identification tags readers for each storage area; a plurality of electronic item identification tags readers for each storage area; a control system connected to each electronic worker identification tags readers and to each electronic item identification tags reader, the control system having: memory means containing information related to: transaction information about taking and returning item operations, comprising: information about items that have been taken from the item's respective storage area by a worker on a specific time and date; information about tools that have been taken and returned to the tool's respective storage area by a worker on a specific time and date; wherein the electronic worker identification tags reader, reads a worker ID when the ID is in the reading range thereof and sends the information of the worker to the central control system; wherein the electronic item identification tags reader senses when an item is been taken from the item's respective storage area by a worker and reads the information recorded in the item ID, sends the information to the central control system which register the taking transaction in the memory means so that the system “knows” which item has been taken from which storage area by which worker and when; and wherein the electronic tool identification tags reader senses when an item is been returned to the item's respective storage area and reads the information recorded in the tool ID, sends the information to the central control system which register the storing transaction in the memory means so that the system “knows” which item that has been previously taken by a worker has been returned to its respective storage area and when.
With the present inventive system it is possible to have a tight control over each tool and an immediate control over taking and returning operations. Furthermore, the present inventive system provides an almost “on line” status of each tool as well as the usage history of each tool.
Since the system links each operation with a respective worker, it is impossible to lose any tool and returning a different tool, since the system would detect that the tool is related to other employee. A skilled in the art may suggest that the RFID tag may be easily retired from the tool and attached to other tool, but applicant's system requires that each RFID tag be attached to the tool by means of special substances already available in the market which practically “integrates” the RFID tag in such way that if someone try to detach it from the toll, the RFID is destroyed, thus avoiding fraudulent practices.